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EASTER SUNDAY

Scripture: Luke 24:1-8

Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices that they had prepared. When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, and they did not know what to think.

Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? Jesus isn’t here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ’The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’“ Then they remembered what Jesus had said.

Confession: Living Faith (Presbyterian Church in Canada), 3.5

Jesus suffered, died, and was buried,

but God raised him from the dead.

Risen and ascended,

he is alive now, the living Lord.

His resurrection means that our faith is not empty,

that final victory is assured over all evil power

which destroy and deform life,

and that death, the last enemy, is conquered.

Holy Saturday

Scripture: Luke 23:50-56

There was a man named Joseph, who was from Arimathea in Judea. Joseph was a good and honest man, and he was eager for God’s kingdom to come. He was also a member of the council, but he did not agree with what they had decided.

Joseph went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. He took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in fine cloth. Then he put it in a tomb that had been cut out of solid rock and had never been used. It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and watched how Jesus' body was placed in the tomb. Then they went to prepare some sweet-smelling spices for his burial. But on the Sabbath they rested, as the Law of Moses commands.

Confession: Heidelberg Catechism, #44

Q. Why does the creed add, "He descended to hell"?

A. To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.

Good Friday

Scripture: Luke 23:44-49

Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle. Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.

When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he praised God and said, “Certainly, this man was innocent.”

A crowd had gathered to see the terrible sight. Then after they had seen it, they felt brokenhearted and went home. All of Jesus' close friends and the women who had come with him from Galilee stood at a distance and watched.

Confession: Belgic Confession, Article 21

And he endured all this

for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we rightly say with Paul that

we know nothing "except Jesus Christ and him crucified";

we "regard everything as loss

because of the surpassing value

of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord."

We find all comforts in his wounds

and have no need to seek or invent any other means

to reconcile ourselves with God

than this one and only sacrifice,

once made,

which renders believers perfect

forever.

This is also why

the angel of God called him Jesus—

that is, "Savior"—

because he would save his people

from their sins.

Maundy Thursday

Scripture: Luke 22:14-23

When the time came for Jesus and the apostles to eat, he said to them, “I have very much wanted to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. I tell you that I will not eat another Passover meal until it is finally eaten in God’s kingdom.”

Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he told the apostles, “Take this wine and share it with each other. I tell you that I will not drink any more wine until God’s kingdom comes.”

Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and handed it to his apostles. Then he said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of remembering me!”

After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands. Then he said, “This is my blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes his new agreement. The one who will betray me is here at the table with me! The Son of Man will die in the way that has been decided for him, but it will be terrible for the one who betrays him!”

Then the apostles started arguing about who would ever do such a thing.

Confession: Heidelberg Catechism, #75

Q. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?

A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises:

First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross.

Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

Spy Wednesday

Scripture: Luke 22:1-6

The Festival of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover, was near. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus, because they were afraid of what the people might do. Then Satan entered the heart of Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve apostles.

Judas went to talk with the chief priests and the officers of the temple police about how he could help them arrest Jesus. They were very pleased and offered to pay Judas some money. He agreed and started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus when the crowds were not around.

Confession: Our World Belongs to God, 14

Fallen in that first sin,

we prove each day

that apart from grace

we are guilty sinners:

we fail to thank God,

we break God’s laws,

we ignore our tasks.

Looking for life without God,

we find death;

grasping for freedom outside the law,

we trap ourselves in Satan’s snares;

pursuing pleasure,

we lose the gift of joy.

Holy Tuesday

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Confession: A Brief Statement of Faith (PCUSA)

We trust in Jesus Christ,

Fully human, fully God.

Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:

preaching good news to the poor

and release to the captives,

teaching by word and deed

and blessing the children,

healing the sick

and binding up the brokenhearted,

eating with outcasts,

forgiving sinners,

and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.

Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,

Jesus was crucified,

suffering the depths of human pain

and giving his life for the sins of the world.

God raised this Jesus from the dead,

vindicating his sinless life,

breaking the power of sin and evil,

delivering us from death to life eternal.

Holy Monday

Scripture: John 12-1-8

Six days before Passover Jesus went back to Bethany, where he had raised Lazarus from death. A meal had been prepared for Jesus. Martha was doing the serving, and Lazarus himself was there.

Mary took a very expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on Jesus' feet. She wiped them with her hair, and the sweet smell of the perfume filled the house.

A disciple named Judas Iscariot was there. He was the one who was going to betray Jesus, and he asked, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?” Judas did not really care about the poor. He asked this because he carried the moneybag and sometimes would steal from it.

Jesus replied, “Leave her alone! She has kept this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me.”

Confession: Our World Belongs to God, 26

Being both divine and human,

Jesus is the only mediator.

He alone paid the debt for our sin;

there is no other Savior.

We are chosen in Christ

to become like him in every way.

God’s electing love sustains our hope:

God’s grace is free

to save sinners who offer nothing

but their need for mercy.

Palm Sunday

Scripture: Luke 19:28-38

When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went on toward Jerusalem. As he was getting near Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples on ahead. He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will find a young donkey that has never been ridden. Untie the donkey and bring it here. If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

They went off and found everything just as Jesus had said. While they were untying the donkey, its owners asked, “Why are you doing that?”

They answered, “The Lord needs it.”

Then they led the donkey to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on its back and helped Jesus get on. And as he rode along, the people spread clothes on the road in front of him. When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen. They shouted,

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory to God.”

Confession: Heidelberg Catechism, #34

Q. Why do you call Jesus "our Lord"?

A. Because—not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood— he has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be his very own.

April 13

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

New Brunswick Theological Seminary, 1880

The first Protestant seminary in North America was opened 235 years ago…by believers of the Dutch Reformed faith. After more than two centuries, New Brunswick Theological Seminary continues to educate ministers in the Reformed Church of America (RCA). Allan Janssen, a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the RCA, was also an Associate Professor of Theological Studies at the seminary, specializing in studies of the Reformed Confessions.

In his book Confessing the Faith Today: A Fresh Look at the Belgic Confession, Janssen says that “the creeds and confessions of the church are repositories of astonishment, of ‘radical amazement.’” While always playing a secondary role to the wonder of scripture, “The confession only endeavors to describe the wonder that has happened, and more, the God who is disclosed – or more properly, the God who discloses God’s self – in the events that are witnessed.”

Tomorrow, we begin the week called Holy. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides into a jubilant city ready to welcome him as king. By Friday however, the crowds will have turned their backs on God’s beloved, and cry out for his death. But on Sunday the tables will be turned once again as God raises Jesus from the dead, proving that even death itself is not strong enough to contain the love and grace of God!

The devotions for next week will include a scripture reading traditionally associated with that day, as well as a statement from one of the confessions that have guided our Lenten journey. The confessions were written in very specific places by very specific people for very specific purposes. But we believe that the Holy Spirit guided our ancestors in the faith in the same way that we are guided today. As you read each scripture in dialogue with a confessional statement, ask yourself, what resonates? How might you “describe the wonder” differently?

Remember, as Jannsen says, “Confession is the language of love…We grope for words and liturgically repeat those words that the church has forged, in all their inadequacy, to say back to God what God is about. The very care with which we form the words and phrases is itself an act of love and honor.”

What do you know about the Reformed Confessions now that you didn’t know at the beginning of Lent? How does the writing of a Confession make more clear the covenant God has made with us?

April 12

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

John and Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, along with his more famous brother, John Wesley, was from a much later generation of reformers than Luther and Calvin. Born in 1707, Charles was given the best early education by his mother, Susannah, who knew Greek, Latin, French, and English! After graduating from Oxford, the Wesley brothers were ordained priests in the Anglican Church, and set sail for America as missionaries to the colonists. Charles soon realized however, that his faith was lacking something…an intimate covenant relationship with God. “I went to America to convert the Indians,” he wrote, “but, oh, who will convert me?”

Upon his return to England, Charles became acquainted with the Moravians, a group of Christians who trace their beginnings to Jan Hus, a reformer from Bohemia who lived 140 years before John Calvin. As he prayed for God to do something new in his heart, Charles wrote in his diary, “I labored, waited, and prayed to feel the one ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me.’” Shortly after that entry, Charles had a conversion…a new experience of God’s covenant in his life. The two brothers would go on to organize the early Methodist Church. And from their beginnings, the Methodists have always sung the hymns of Charles Wesley.

Wesley composed 8,989 hymns over the course of his life! One of his best known, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, was written shortly after his conversion experience.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want; more than all in thee I find.

Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.

Just and holy is thy name; I am all unrighteousness.

False and full of sin I am; thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found; grace to cover all my sin.

Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.

Thou of life the fountain art; freely let me take of thee.

Spring thou up within my heart. Rise to all eternity.

Just as the people of Israel saw God’s redeeming hand in the waters that were spread before them in the desert, so Christians see God’s redeeming grace in Jesus Christ. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. God would once again do something new through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

How would you describe your own “conversion” experience? Has it been a gradual process, or can you point to one moment when you knew that God really loved you?

April 11

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

For the past few years, I’ve spent my Februarys accompanying middle school vocal students in competition. After two weeks of rehearsal, and one Saturday of critiques, competition day arrives. Knowing that they will be judged and scored by a professional, the students usually enter the classroom with some sense of trepidation. But much of that melts away when they see the faces of their parents in the audience. The smiles of dads, and the reassurances of moms, help each singer to step up to the stage and deliver their best performance. As I sat this year watching one father beam from ear to ear listening to his daughter sing, I wondered how our faith might be strengthened if we thought of God, our Divine Parent, with such a huge smile, watching us as we go through the journey of life!

Earlier in this chapter from Isaiah that we’ve been pondering this week, God is presented in very mother-like images. “But now, thus says the Lord, (the one) who created you, O Jacob, (the one) who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1, NRSV) Creating. Forming. Naming. These are not the attributes of a god who wishes to remain distant from the creation. These are the attributes of a loving mother, a gentle father, who wishes only the best for their children.

The gods of the ancient world were not known to be particularly caring. Mostly, they were strong-handed tyrants. A few were benevolent dictators. But only Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Sarah, was a loving parent. Of course, sometimes that parenting took the form of some rather strong tough love. But in this passage of scripture, God wishes to bring the children home.

Like the father in the story of the prodigal son, God will do anything, even something new, to get our attention. There it is! I’m making a road through the desert. In the past, God swept up the water from the pathway so that God’s children could make it safely to the other side. Now, God will pour out overflowing water along their pathway home so that the people won’t die of thirst.

While justly angry,

God did not turn away

from a world bent on destruction

but turned to face it in love.

With patience and tender care

the Lord set out

on the long road of redemption

to reclaim the lost as his people

and the world as his kingdom.

(Our World Belong to God, 18)

Can you imagine God smiling at you, turning towards you, and facing you with love?

April 10

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

John Knox Witherspoon

I didn’t know it until a few years ago, but I come from a long line of Presbyterian pastors. My fifth great-grandfather was Rev. Robert Stewart, Sr., an Irishman who served the Presbyterian Church of Canton, Illinois in the mid 1800’s. My fourth great-grandfather, Rev. Robert Stewart, Jr., followed in his father’s footsteps and became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Bond, Illinois. While serving as their pastor, he also served as a conductor for the Underground Railroad, helping to assist slaves as they fled to their freedom in the North.

Perhaps both of my grandfathers had been influenced by John Knox Witherspoon, a Scottish Presbyterian minister who helped unify the Presbyterian Church in America, and moderated its first General Assembly in 1789 in Philadelphia. What Witherspoon is best known for however, was his involvement in the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the newly formed Constitution of the United States. As president of Princeton University, John Witherspoon had the ear of countless revolutionaries. One of them was James Madison. It was Witherspoon who introduced Madison to the idea of a government with checks and balances…a new (and revolutionary) idea for the time.

There is no doubt many of the founders of our country were strongly influenced by the ideas of John Calvin. After all, twelve signers of the Declaration were Presbyterian. Another thirteen were Congregationalists, a later addition to the Reformed family. Building upon the ideas of Calvin, which were revolutionary in his day, our founders sought to create something new.

In a society not known for its respect of the human person, Calvin, acting on his deeply held conviction that all people are created in God’s image, wrote that “we ought to embrace the whole human race without exception in a single feeling of love; here there is no distinction between barbarian or Greek, worthy and unworthy, friend and enemy, since all should be contemplated in God, not in themselves.” (Institutes, 2.8.55)

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? We must always be open to the Holy Spirit who leads us to new insights into God’s Word. In the 21st century, for instance, many Reformed Christians are attempting to look at their relationship with God’s creation in new and creative ways. While the ancient confessions all affirm God as the creator of this world, they did little to foster an ethic of care. The Christian Reformed Church in North America adopted this new expression of faith in 2008:

We lament that our abuse of creation

has brought lasting damage

to the world we have been given:

polluting streams and soil,

poisoning the air,

altering the climate,

and damaging the earth.

We commit ourselves

to honor all God’s creatures

and to protect them from abuse and extinction,

for our world belongs to God.

(Our World Belongs to God, 51)

Can you think of ways that your congregation or denomination has addressed a contemporary issue by doing something new?

April 9

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

We have always done it this way. Although they might profess the words of the Apostles’ Creed each Sunday and adhere to the tenants of the Reformed confessions, many Christians’ de facto profession of faith is: “We have always done it this way!”

As I write this devotion, the United Methodist Church is preparing to, once again, vote on whether or not to allow LGBTQ members to be fully integrated into the life of that denomination. But while many denominations continue to repeat the same tired arguments against full inclusion of one group or another into the life of the community, many in the next generation have simply given up on the Church altogether. We have always done it this way.

But God’s perspective is always more expansive than we can imagine. “Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new” God says to the people in this week’s scripture reading. “It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?”

Shirley Erena grew up in New Zealand in the Methodist Church. Later in life she married John Murray, who later became the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. The language of many of Shirley Erena Murray’s hymns is new and fresh to our ears. She began writing hymns because, in her own words, “it seemed to me that the hymns we sang had no resonance with the world I lived in…there was no imagery that evoked a particular environment, no landscape of thought to accommodate the southern hemisphere…no connection with the Maori culture of our society, which is officially bicultural, nothing to articulate our own hopes and visions.” And so she began creating new songs for the church to sing. One of my favorite texts is From the Apple in the Garden:

From the apple in the garden

to the manger and the star,

from the rainbow and the promise

to the moment where we are,

you are our hope, loving God.

God is always up to something new. When the garden became a mess, there was a promise. When the promise was forgotten, there was a rainbow. When the rainbow was a memory, there was a star. And when the star faded, there was a Savior.

From the curse of Eve and Adam

to the blessing of the Christ,

from the spirits of division

to your Spirit in our midst,

still be our hope, loving God!

If we are “made in God’s image” and “God uses our skills for the unfolding and well-being of his world,” (Our World Belongs to God, 10) then how can we be so resistant to the new and the creative ways in which God wishes to work in our own place and time?

When have you resisted what God might want accomplish now because “we’ve always done it this way?”

April 8

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

Shortly after the horrific events of 9/11, a slogan entered the American lexicon: Never Forget! Artists created paintings of the World Trade Center towers with the words “Never Forget” flying in front of them. The President and other civic leaders appeared at podiums with “Never Forget” banners hanging behind them. And images of firefighters and first responders were on the nightly news with the ever-present reminder to “Never Forget.”

We are also reminded over and over again in the scriptures to “never forget.” Never forget that I led you out of Egypt with an outstretched hand, God says. Never forget that I fed you with manna in the desert. Never forget that I have been with you every single step of the way. But then, in this week’s scripture, God seems to reverse course. After reminding the people of Israel one more time that it was God who “carves a path through the pounding waves” for them, God now tells them to “forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.” (Isaiah 43:18) Huh?

The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, once wrote that “without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.” We’ve all known people – perhaps we are that person – who cannot seem to free themselves from the events of the past, good or evil. Our own foundational stories (even those stories of God’s saving power) can trap us into believing that that distant moment was the one and only time that God will ever act on our behalf. So we must never forget. By holding too tightly to those stories however, we can fail to see how God is moving in our lives right here, right now.

While the daily call to “never forget” after 9/11 galvanized us as a nation to come together in powerful ways to remember the victims, and forge a shared future where these heinous crimes would never happen again, it has also held many people back from moving forward. Most notably, it has continued to fuel anti-Muslim rhetoric in our country. What shining future may lie before us if we were able to lay the past to rest?

What do you need to let go of in order to allow God to act in your life right now?

April 7

New Covenant / Isaiah 43:16-21

Martin Luther

The young man had recently completed his Master’s degree, and was just beginning his studies to become a lawyer when a summer thunderstorm hit. He had come home for the weekend to visit his parents, and was heading back to school when lightning struck nearby. Thrown to the ground and fearing for his life, he called out to God to save him. A devout Catholic, he asked St. Anne to intercede for him. “If God saves me,” he pleaded, “I will become a monk!” Shaken, but saved, the budding lawyer gave up his legal pursuits and entered the monastery fourteen days later. The year was 1505, and the young man’s name was Martin...Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was among the first wave of reformers to shake Europe, laying the foundation for people like John Calvin, who later built upon Luther’s own discoveries.

That near-disaster, and God’s saving power, became one of the defining stories of Luther’s life. His decision to become a monk led to his study of scripture, which led to his 95 Theses, which led to the Protestant Reformation. Martin would hold on to that memory of God’s saving power throughout the rest of his life.

Most of us will probably never come face to face with a lightning bolt. But if we are honest, we can all look back to some point in our life where we did come face to face with the saving power of God. Perhaps it was a close-call on the highway. Or the safe delivery of a beautiful newborn baby after an excruciating pregnancy. Or a successful bout of chemotherapy. Or the chicken casserole that appeared on the doorstep when we thought all was lost. Whatever the situation was, we were able to look back on it and confess, in the words of The Belgic Confession, that “this good God, after creating all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will…” (Article 13)

In this week’s reading from Isaiah, the people of Israel are reminded that God is the one “who builds a road right through the ocean” for them. Standing with the impenetrable Red Sea in front of them, and Pharaoh’s army at their heels, it was God who provided a way forward...not around their problems, but straight through them. And this story of the Exodus is repeated over and over and over again, right down to our day. In fact, each time we baptize someone, we call to mind that day at the Red Sea: Eternal and gracious God, we give you thanks. In countless ways you have revealed yourself in ages past, and have blessed us with signs of your grace. We praise you that through the waters of the sea, you led your people Israel out of bondage, into freedom in the land of your promise. (Thanksgiving Over the Water #2, Book of Common Prayer)

When have you seen God’s saving power in your own life? What story of God’s deliverance do you tell over and over again in your family?

April 6

Feast of the Covenant / Joshua 5:9-12

Sara Miles was a left-wing lesbian atheist journalist. She was definitely not the church going type. But one morning, for some reason (grace?), she felt herself drawn to attend a service at her local Episcopal church. When it came time for communion, Sara felt compelled to go forward to receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation. This simple act of communing for the very first time in her life started her on a spiritual journey that would lead to the opening of a food pantry for people struggling to make ends meet.

“Taste and see, the Bible said, and I did,” Miles wrote in her memoir, Taste and See (The Spiritual Memoir of a Twenty-First Christian). “I was tasting a connection between communion and food – between my burgeoning religion and my real life. My first, questioning year at church ended with a question whose urgency would propel me into work I’d never imagined: Now that you’ve taken the bread, what are you going to do?”

God gave the Festival of Passover to the people of Israel so that they would never forget the saving power and grace of God they had witnessed as they escaped Egypt and fled through the Red Sea. But now that they had taken the unleavened bread, what were they supposed to do? A few chapters later, God says to them: “Don’t mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34, CEV) Our communion with the body and blood of Christ should always propel us to action. Once we have tasted the saving goodness of the Lord in the bread and the cup, we cannot keep it to ourselves.

One of the Lenten Great Prayers of Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Worship puts it this way:

Gracious God,

as this bread is Christ’s body for us,

send us out to be the body of Christ in the world.

Help us to be obedient to your call

to love all your children,

to do justice and show mercy,

and to live in peace with your whole creation.

Have you ever thought of Holy Communion as a call to action? How might this understanding change the way you approach the Lord’s Supper?

April 5

Feast of the Covenant / Joshua 5:9-12

Forty Autumns is the memoir of a German family separated by the Berlin Wall after World War II. Nina Willner writes about the experiences of her mother, Hannah, who, at the age of 20, escaped from East Berlin, leaving behind her parents and several siblings. Because of the severe travel restrictions, her mother was allowed to travel to West Germany only twice to see her daughter; her father, only once, shortly after his daughter married. It would be the last time Hannah ever saw her parents. Thirty years later, now living in the United States, she reminisced that she could hardly even remember what her family looked like. Telling stories about her days growing up in an undivided Germany helped Hannah keep her family alive in her heart.

Oscar Wilde once said that “memory is the diary we all carry about with us.” Without our memories, the people we’ve loved would just slip into oblivion. Remembering their lives however, makes them real once again. Telling their stories pulls them into our own experience at the moment. It’s as if they were right here, eating and drinking with us.

Christians have a fancy word for the type of remembering we do. It’s called anamnesis. Simply put, it means that each time we tell the story of Jesus at the Lord’s Table, he is present with us in a unique way. In the same way the people of Israel told and re-told the story of the Exodus, we tell and re-tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. It is our constant reminder of the presence of God in our lives. Each time we call to mind the story of Jesus, we also become aware that the story continues to our day. Through Word and Sacrament, Christ continues to extend to us healing, wholeness, and salvation.

One of the Easter Prayers of Great Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Worship tells the story of Jesus this way:

Blessed is Jesus Christ, O God,

whom you sent to save us.

He came with healing in his touch,

and was wounded for our sins.

He came with mercy in his voice,

and was mocked as one despised.

He came with peace in his heart,

and met with violence and death.

By your power he broke free from the prison of the tomb,

and at his command, the gates of hell were opened.

How is Jesus bringing healing, mercy, and peace into your life right now? How does remembering the story of Jesus at the Lord’s Supper help to remind you of his presence right now?

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